This invention relates in general to screw-fastening devices and more particularly to an automatic pneumatically powered screw-driving apparatus which locates a screw prior to driving and initiates rotation of the screw before contact is made with the object into which it is being driven.
To date, screw alignment and driving tools exist for use in repetitive production processes which make the starting and driving of the screw by hand totally unfeasible. The majority of the conventional devices comprise suspended, pneumatic, automatic screw drivers, as well as inverted screw drivers. These automatic screw drivers suspend from their air power conduit over a work area and are then placed over a screw once it has been started into an object to complete the driving of the screw into the object. Normally, the driver action is initiated by suppressing a switch either on the tool itself, or on the floor closely proximate to the user's work area. Conventional inverted automatic screw drivers attached to a workbench have similarly been used.
While these types of conventional screw-driving apparatus are in great supply, there is often associated with them the problem of initially aligning and setting the screw with the object into which it is to be driven. Additionally, it is often difficult to impart to the screw the much-desired initial torque before contact is made between the screw and the object into which it is being driven. Obviously, the conventional overhead pneumatic screw driver, or inverted screw drivers which are capable of driving the screw only after it has been started, ecounter great difficulty in aligning and starting the screw itself, as well as great difficulty in imparting and absorbing initial torque to the screw before contact is even made between the screw and the object.
It is thus an object of the present invention to effectively locate a screw device relative to an object into which it will be driven in an improved manner and to maintain this location until the screw is formally set and driven into the object.
It is additionally an object of the present invention to enable the user of the automatic screwing system to apply a preliminary torque to the screw even before the screw makes contact with the object into which it will be driven, and to actuate this initial "pre-contact" preliminary torque automatically when the object is brought into contact with the system at a certain predetermined distance, while at the same time absorbing this torque more efficiently.
It is also an object of the present invention to enable a pre-determined depth of drive which is adjustable so as to make sure for the user that the screw is affixed to the object through an appropriate distance so as to minimize the error arising when the user himself must judge the appropriate depth to which the screw must be driven.
In addition to this convenience, the present invention seeks to provide more convenience for the user by providing a compact, efficient work area tool, accurate in performing its job, while providing the user a convenient mounting apparatus not only for the tool itself, but also for bins which contain the necessary screw devices with which the user is performing the setting and driving operations.
Further, it is an object of the present invention to provide a safe, efficient screw setting and driving apparatus which reduces the exposure of moving parts when the apparatus is operating or not in use, all on an efficient, convenient apparatus which can be quickly and easily attached to and in the user's work area.
These and other aspects of the invention will become apparent from the ensuing specification and drawings.